by Karec on Fri May 30, 2008 10:38 pm ([msg=3785]see Suggestion to Users[/msg])

Dear users,

Me and the moderation staff do spend time reading through the mission forums but unfortunately, especially with the basics with 10+ pages to each topic we don't always have the time to go through them all every day. (Even though sometimes I get bored and try to instead of being productive =p)

So I ask you users, if you see a spoiler in a topic please REPORT IT. The moderation is taking a no quarter/mercy policy toward spoilers and even the instance of one will warrant the offending user a warning no questions asked. To help improve the site and make the HTS forums helpful without giving away missions please take the one minute if you see a spoiler to hit the warning button. Us moderators actually do read the warned posts and moderate them.

To the users who have been reporting this activity, (I notice you guys are usually repeats for the most part) I thank you for taking the time to do this and keep up the good work.

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."-Rick Cook, The Wizardry Compiled

I report a lot and i some times worry is its fully legit so i wanted to know if you can post some examples of what exactly counts as too much info and should be edited and what is still aloud... that or should i stay of the safe side and keep alerting a lot?

“If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always."

I know I see a lot of reports in the moderation queue which report things that aren't really spoilerish. Generally, spoilers include paths and URLs which give away files/commands/arguments critical to the mission. Likewise, telling a user exactly what to do and exactly where to go is a spoiler.

Here are a few examples of things that are spoilers:

1) Liking directly to the robots file on the mission that uses it2) Telling a user exactly how to find a file necessary for a mission3) Pasting the command necessary to pass the basic mission that involves the `cal` command4) Telling a user exactly what inline javascript is necessary to pass some of the javascript missions5) Pasting operational (non-pseudo) code to pass any of the programming missions6) Telling a user how to disable javascript to pass the mission that requires it

Still, there are a lot of hints and tips for the missions which aren't spoilers. Here are a few examples:

1) Telling a user to google the purpose of the robots.txt file2) Telling a user to google 'poison null byte'3) Telling a user to look in the source of a page because they're missing something4) Telling a user a certain application that might be necessary to pass a mission

The general rule is, if someone is saying how to FIND information necessary to the mission, but not actually giving it away, they're not spoiling. Also note, we're not going to ban you for being prudent and trying to help us out. If you're not sure about something being a spoiler, report it anyway, and we'll see what we can do about it.

One final thought. Users asking "How do I do X" should not be reported for "asking for spoilers". These users often don't know well enough that what they're doing is against the rules. Simply give them some information to move them along, and tell them that they will not be told exactly how to do the mission.